The proximity of this town to Toms River, Barnegat Bay, and the ocean makes it an ideal habitat for humans and other animals. Significant parts of the landscape are covered with pines, and it has a growing population of human inhabitants who share the area with summer tourists.
New Jersey is one of the most biodiverse states in the nation. With warm springs, hot summers, and mild winters, many wildlife species call the Toms River area home.
Critter Control is here for you every step of the way in the wildlife removal process. From inspection to removal—and even exclusion and repair—we have the services you need to get rid of raccoons, rodents, and other nuisances fast. First, we identify the animal on the property, then use humane methods to remove the animal and secure weak points where more could enter. If damage has been done, we can make those repairs for a complete restoration. Contact a Critter Control office near you today.
During the inspection we try to ascertain how many animals there are, where they are located, and how they got in. Based on what you have seen, heard and smelled, we start the inspection where you have noticed signs of animal activity. Evidence of animals inside your home include nests, dens, feces, and animal tracks. We investigate the exterior of your home looking for possible entry points, any evidence of animal damage, tracks, fur, animal waste, or rub marks.
We use several methods to humanely remove the animal from your home. Depending on the species, the number of animals, and the condition of your property, we develop a custom wildlife removal plan. Humane wildlife removal strategies include animal traps, one-way doors, and repellents. Once we guarantee all animals are gone, we implement exclusion techniques. Exclusion techniques provide a safe, long-term solution to nuisance wildlife in your home. We create barriers to prevent animals from getting to resources. We only apply exclusions once we are sure all animals are gone from your home.
Wildlife will damage your home. Exclusion techniques repair any damage the animal causes getting into your home. Inside your home, animals build nests and dens out of readily available material. They will create runs through the insulation. Rodents will gnaw on anything including electrical wires and pipes. Animals can also spread diseases. We apply sanitation agents to clean up feces and urine. Mammals can host pests like fleas, ticks, and mites. Ectoparasite treatments exterminate those pests so you don’t become their next host.
Although raccoons look adorable, they are clever, athletic, and mischievous. They are mainly active at night and breed in January or February, giving birth in spring.
Because of urban and suburban development, their natural habitats are shrinking. And they have been forced to find other spaces in which to build their dens, including attics, chimneys, and crawl spaces, making it necessary to call on pest control professionals to remove them. They are quite large, between 10 and 25 pounds, so you will hear raccoon sounds in your attic, chimney, or wall.
During the inspection, we determine the severity of the raccoon infestation. We look for physical evidence like footprints in or around the home, stains from raccoon feces and urine. On the exterior of the house, we look for damage like scratches on boards, broken vents and screens, ripped apart shingles, destroyed soffits, and every possible entry point.
Cage traps are the most efficient ways to get rid of a raccoon. Depending on the situation, a one-way door or excluder valve can be installed. An excluder valve works by allowing the raccoon to leave but blocks its reentry. The choice of device is largely dependent on the season and location of the raccoons on your property. Direct capture is not commonly used because raccoons are a rabies vector species. If we must trap, we place traps strategically to safely catch the raccoons and we check traps frequently, based on state laws.
We provide a wide range of repair and restoration services.
Exclusion repairs keeps raccoons out. We can seal raccoon entry points like broken screens on vents, uncapped chimneys, or destroyed soffits.
It is essential to apply cleaning agents and ectoparasite treatments on areas inhabited by raccoons.
Rats require water to thrive, so the Toms River area is a natural habitat for them, especially roof rats. Residents will find them coming into houses in the fall and winter as the weather turns cold. Unfortunately, rats are responsible for the spread of many diseases, primarily via contaminating food with their urine or feces.
At Critter Control, we use various methods to exterminate rodent activity. Our rodent control provide long-term rat removal solutions. The size and location of the rat infestation in your home will determine what method we will use to remove them. Rat control starts with trapping. Once the population is under control inside, we install exclusions around your home to keep rats out. Finally, an ongoing maintenance program including bait stations around your house, provide a long-term rat control solution.
During a rodent inspection, we thoroughly inspect your attic and provide a complete exterior home inspection. The most common signs of rodent activity are gnaw marks, feces, rub marks, nesting material, runs in insulation material, and small entry points.
A Critter Control wildlife specialist will create a strategic trapping plan to remove the rodents found in your home. Critter Control specialists may use snap traps and live traps to capture and remove mice and rats. Rodent trapping can usually takes between five to fourteen days.
The best way to reduce to control rodent populations in your home is exclusions by professionally sealing possible entrances. Exclusion methods include caulking cracks in foundations, capping chimneys, and installing mesh covers over vents and crawl space entrances. We also strongly recommend a maintenance service. Rodents have front teeth that continuously grow, which means they can gnaw a new way back into your home.
Squirrels in attics are a common animal nuisance problem in Toms River. The gray squirrel is the most prevalent species in New Jersey. While they can be entertaining when scurrying about outside, they are no fun to find in your attic or crawl space, where they have been known to make a mess and cause electrical fires. They are also carriers of ticks, mange mites, fleas, and internal parasites.
Wildlife specialists look for signs such as chewing on, in, or around your home, small openings leading to the attic or the crawl space, droppings, and debris like nuts or nesting material. Beams, wires, pipes, and insulation may all show signs of damage from squirrels.
Live trapping or one-way doors are the most effective and humane ways to get rid of squirrels. One-way doors should never be used during birthing seasons (Spring & Fall), so our specialists will decide which is the best tool for the job. If we have to trap, we place traps strategically to safely catch the squirrels and check those according to state laws.
We can restore your home or office after squirrel removal. After trapping, we install exclusions for squirrel control by squirrel proofing all entry points after we have removed the offenders. We can also clean-up the nesting sites and remove any debris, food, feces and soiled insulation.
The majority of bats in New Jersey are insectivores. They are considered a valuable species because of the number of insects they devour and rarely react negatively with humans.
The two species of bats most common in New Jersey are the big brown bats and little brown bats. In the wild, they will live in caves. But when living in a populated area such as Toms River, attics, chimneys, and soffits are cave-like enough to them.
Despite their benefits, the guano from bats is a potential danger for diseases such as Histoplasma fungus. Bats are a protected species in New Jersey, and it is illegal to capture or kill them.
We perform a full interior and exterior inspection and search for signs such as rub marks, guano, a strong scent of ammonia, and small openings. The most common sign is the accumulation of guano (feces).
The most effective and humane way to remove bats is by utilizing a bat valve in conjunction with a full home exclusion. A bat valve allows for bats to exit your home but not re-enter. We follow all local ordinances for humane bat removal. We will never abandon flightless pups in your attic.
After removing the bat valves, we seal the entrance hole(s) so bats can no longer enter your home. If there is substantial guano in your attic, you should consider taking advantage of our attic remediation services to remove the soiled insulation and replace it.
Nocturnal marsupials are opportunistic omnivores, including garbage, roadkill, rotten fruit, grass, insects, birds, rodents, and snakes. Opossums become a nuisance when they enter homes or damage gardens. Opossums harbor parasites like ticks and fleas and host the microorganism that causes Equine Protozoan Myeloencephalities. Opossums have a lower body temperature than most mammals so they do not carry rabies.
They have a reputation for playing dead by curling onto their back, sticking their tongues out, squirting foul fluid from their anuses, and staring off into space when confronted by predators. Opossums also attempt to scare predators by baring their teeth and hissing, which many people mistake for a sign of rabies. leptospirosis, tuberculosis, relapsing fever, tularemia, spotted fever, toxoplasmosis, coccidiosis, trichomoniasis, and Chagas disease.
The Critter Control wildlife technician will thoroughly check all potential areas for an opossum den. Opossums’ natural den sites include tree cavities, brush piles, or rock crevices. They will also use other animals’ burrows or abandoned squirrel nests. On your property, an opossum will den under a shed or porch, in an attic or crawlspace, or inside your garage. Opossums are not strong enough to create their own entrances like raccoons.
Opossums are not especially fast or strong. They are caught in a cage trap. One-way doors can also get rid of opossums from your home.
There are no effective opossum repellents or frightening devices. Securing areas under sheds and porches with galvanized steel hardware cloth will keep opossums from denning sites.
The most effective opossum control is to remove resources for food, shelter and water. Habitat modifications such as securing garbage cans, clearing brush piles, bringing pet food inside, securing birdfeeds, and cleaning up any fruit or vegetables from gardens.
Although most people think chipmunks are adorable as they scamper and play. Like squirrels, these little one-pound creatures will enter attics and crawl spaces to hide their winter stockpiles of food. A single chipmunk can gather up to 165 acorns in a day. They give birth to two to eight young at a time. Inside the home is not a chipmunk’s first choice for a den, but they will travel in and out of your attic or crawl space as they store food for winter.
The clearest sign of a chipmunk infestation is the damage in your yard. Chipmunks create extensive burrows. Their holes are only 2-3 inches wide but can stretch 20 to 30 feet. Other signs of chimpunks include dug planted seeds, gnaw marks on tree bark, and destroyed flowers, stems, fruits, and vegetables. Chipmunks rarely enter homes so the signs of a chipmunk infestation will be in your yard. While it is unlikely a chipmunk is in your house, we will still look for any potential entry points.
One of the most effective ways to prevent chipmunk damage is to create exclusions around your home. Buried hardware cloth is a useful option to keep chipmunks out of gardens and flower beds. Additionally, you can use wire mesh to prevent chipmunks from entering your home. The wire mesh should be secured to any openings that a chipmunk may be able to squeeze through.
Chipmunk trapping typically takes 10-14 days; however, this may vary depending on the extent of the chipmunk intrusion. Cage traps with fine mesh can be effective with peanut butter as the bait. Additionally, you may use fruit, nuts, or seed to bait the trap. Live traps and snare traps can be an effective tools to remove chipmunks from your property.
Filling a chipmunk hole before a control strategy is not effective. Chipmunks will be able to dig the hole again.
Chipmunks can cause structural damage by burrowing under patios, stairs, retention walls, and foundations. If a chipmunk enters a home, it typically uses a downsport or gutter. Critter Control will install gutter guards to prevent that from happening.
Skunks are a common pest in New Jersey. These animals are known for foraging for food in trash bins and pet food bowls. They’re also profound and efficient diggers, and can mutilate an entire yard in a single night searching for grubs. They’re distinctive black and white fur, and their pungent odor that can linger for days, are unmistakeable. If you happen to cross paths with a skunk, do not try to scare it away. Please also remember that skunks can carry rabies; therefore, it’s best to let a professional handle removal for you.
In addition to noting any pungent odors that signal the presence of a skunk, we will inspect the condition of your landscaping, as skunks are known for tearing-up lawns and shredding grass while hunting for grubs and insects. We will also inspect the perimeter of your building’s foundations and under decks, to locate burrows.
Never try to remove a skunk from your property yourself. Getting sprayed is a very unpleasant experience. Furthermore, these animals may carry diseases that can spread to humans and pets, such as rabies. Our specialists will use live traps to capture and remove skunks for you, or they’ll use a one-way exclusion device to evict skunks from their harborage areas. The most effective ways to control a skunk problem is exclusion and habitat modification.
The most effective ways to control a skunk problem is exclusion and habitat modification. Methods like sealing foundation gaps, replacing and screening broken foundation vents and installing hardware cloth (rat walls) around unprotected sheds and decks are the most effective and permanent ways to keep skunks out.
We recommend keeping pet food inside and securing any trash bins.
